ABINGDON, VA (March 14, 2013) – Highlands Community Services and designer Briana Morris recently won a Gold ADDY for the most current poster in the series, “Children…They See Everything”. The award was presented by the American Advertising Federation – Southwest Virginia.

The poster was designed to further promote the cause of Project Jane. Project Jane provides unduplicated services that are focused on long-term change for victims and perpetrators of domestic violence. Services also focus on reducing the impact of trauma on the children involved. Project Jane works toward creating a change for life and ending domestic violence.

Designer Briana Morris states, “This poster awakens our hearts to what many children and families go through each day. When someone sees the poster, the first thing they are obviously going to be drawn to is the child’s eye, but what creates the emotional pull is the reflection, as we see what the child is seeing. We see a situation from someone else’s perspective, our empathetic response changes the way we feel, and our heart gets a little bigger as we imagine what it must be like in those circumstances. Understanding that domestic violence is a problem and that there are services and resources available to help better the lives of victims, perpetrators, and witnesses of domestic violence is so important; the goal of this poster was to show that importance. Situations like the one depicted in this poster are up-close and personal, they are very real, and they are sadly very relevant to this area. Thankfully, we have agencies like HCS dedicated to the cause.”

Highlands Community Services is a multi-faceted Community Service Board providing Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Intellectual Disability services to thousands of residents of Bristol and Washington County, VA. To learn more call 276.525.1550 or go to www.highlandscsb.org .

Attracting nearly 60,000 entries each year nationwide, the ADDY awards have become the nation’s largest and most comprehensive advertising competition. Go to www.aaf.org for more information and to learn more about the local chapter, go to www.aafswva.com.